JoinWhat are traditional autumn activities in your program?
By Peggy Ashbrook
Posted on 2012-10-11
Pumpkins are beautiful and varied, and so are apples, plus they taste good. No wonder these fall crops are part of early childhood activities in so many programs. Accomplished early childhood teachers don’t just “do” pumpkins—they use pumpkins as a platform for deep learning about a concept, such as life cycle changes in living organisms.
Marie Faust Evitt describes how her students use pumpkins to learn about measurement on the Gryphon House, Inc blog.
“Gourd-ous Decomposition” by Amy Rubenstein, Stacey Cleary, and Christina Siry, in the September 2009 Science and Children, describes an in-depth observation of a pumpkin before and while it decomposes.
Karen Ansberry and Emily Morgan, authors of More Picture-Perfect Science Lessons: Using Children’s Books to Guide Inquiry, Grades K–4 write a “Teaching Through Tradebooks: Pumpkins!” column in the October 2008 Science and Children about making observations, asking questions, and designing a simple investigation. (Note that some of the NSTA journal articles are free to all and some require membership. Join the NSTA Learning Center at no cost and search for resources, free or otherwise, and join in the discussions in the forums.)
Here is a song to use while becoming familiar with the feel and heft of pumpkins. Pass around a variety of sizes of pumpkins while singing (to the tune of Way Down Yonder in the Pawpaw Patch)
Pickin up pumpkins, pass em to your neighbor,
Pickin up pumpkins, pass em to your neighbor,
Pickin up pumpkins, pass em to your neighbor,
Way down yonder in the pumpkin patch!
After planting pumpkin seeds, and harvesting pumpkins, your students can learn this chant (with apologies to Laura Joffe Numeroff who inspired this with her book, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie):
Pumpkin seeds are usually planted in the spring or summer. Read about parenting and art-making on the Poesies & Rye blog.
If you give it some water, it will grow to the sunshine.
If you give it some sunshine, it will grow some roots.
If it grows some roots, it will grow a sprout.
If it grows a sprout, it will grow a vine.
If it grows a vine, it will grow a flower.
If it grows a flower, it will grow a green pumpkin.
If it grows a green pumpkin, it will grow into an orange pumpkin.
If it grows into an orange pumpkin, you will pick it.
If you pick it, you will make a jack-o-lantern.
If you make a jack-o-lantern, you will save a seed to plant.
If you save a seed to plan, you will need to give it some dirt.
And if you give a pumpkin seed some dirt…
(Repeat)
If you are lucky enough to have a pumpkin plant growing nearby, you and your students can draw the leaves and flowers, and look for tiny pumpkins that have just begun to grow at the base of the flower. Investigate other flowers to look for similarities in flower structure and to see if a seed-bearing fruit grows where the flower was.
A class of two-year-olds ably dissected the leaves and flowers of a zucchini plant using scissors and plastic knives. We teachers were surprised to find that the stems are hollow! Using magnifiers made it easier to see some of the delicate structures. I rubbed off most of the prickles beforehand to make the experience more enjoyable.Perhaps your students will begin a Pumpkin Project, similar to the “All About Potatoes” project conducted by 3-to-5-year-old children at Bing Nursery School under the guidance of their teachers, Jane Farish and Mark Mabry. Read more about the Project Approach at http://ceep.crc.uiuc.edu/eecearchive/books/projcat2.html
Then write a comment and tell others about what your class does with pumpkins or other fall fruits.
Pumpkins are beautiful and varied, and so are apples, plus they taste good. No wonder these fall crops are part of early childhood activities in so many programs. Accomplished early childhood teachers don’t just “do” pumpkins—they use pumpkins as a platform for deep learning about a concept, such as life cycle changes in living organisms.
Mini Doc Cams Capture the World Up Close
By Martin Horejsi
Posted on 2012-10-10
Small document cameras, or mini doc cams, are making inroads into many classrooms due to their low cost, USB power, small size, and adaptability. It is the latter feature that makes them especially attractive to science teachers.
One camera in particular is the IPEVO Point 2 View USB document camera. Since the camera connects to a computer, the full projection capabilities of the camera are only limited by the computer it is connected to. Unlike large tabletop document cameras, the IPEVO camera weighs about 60 grams with two thirds of that being the USB cord.
The tradeoff of low cost and light weight often disproportionately hits performance and resolution, but with a few tips and minor concessions, the advantages of the mini doc cam outweighs the disadvantages. But the strongest advantage of the mini doc cams are their portability and simplicity of operation, which in turn can give it an teaching adaptability that tabletop doc cams can only dream of.
As evidence of this, a magnifying lens designed for the Point 2 View camera has been released and for less than $20, students can use a flush surface-focus 2x lens with built-in lighting on mini doc cam.
While 2x might not sound like much given magnifying lenses and loupes are often 4x-20x and microscopes usually begin at 40x, the 2x is a big deal given the lens is almost touching the object under study. Further, when magnifying objects, the technical complications are also magnified including focus, lighting, and stability that in turn can become insurmountable obstacles to usable photography.
For conventional document projecting uses, the mini doc cams can attach to stands that allow them to mimic their tabletop brethren while maintaining their Superman-like ability to morph into a tiny, fast, mobile camera. And the mobility of a laptop is actually accented, not compromised, with a mini doc cam taking microphotography to a new level and into the field.
Here are a couple examples and applications for the camera outside my classroom. Enjoy.
The veins of the leaf are easily visible, and the rich color and good-enough resolution outweighs most shortcomings of a mini doc cam.
Because the camera is USB-powered, portability is limited only to the environment to which you would subject your laptop.
A camera mount included with the Point 2 View was drilled out in order to fit on a tripod adding to the options students have for holding this camera.
The add-on lighted 2x lens allows the camera to focus as close as the surface of the lens housing. That allows the camera to be in contact with the object being photographed adding to the stability of the system.
The adapter designed to hold the Point 2 View on a laptop or desktop monitor was drilled out so it would screw onto a tripod allowing the IPEVO Point 2 View camera to be mounted onto any standard tripod. The mount on the left has been drilled, and the one on the right is unmodified.
The camera with additional lens can be pressed against the subject of study adding stability and simplifying the work the camera/software has to do focusing the image.
This tree bark shows the texture and has depth which is something that a magnification greater than 2x would have missed. The higher the power, the narrower the depth of field, not to mention the sensitivity of movement.
The flexibility of the camera allows it to be hand-held. You can snap a picture using a camera button, or a mouse-click on the computer side. The images are date stamped and dropped into a folder. This picture also highlights both the limits of the depth of field as well as the sharpness of what is in focus. The camera seems to have a center-weighted autofocus preference so the composition of the above image was done through cropping.
Portability is one of the mini doc camera’s greatest assets. The USB power, simple stand, and extendable USB cable makes the camera open to classroom and field applications by both the teacher and the students.
Small document cameras, or mini doc cams, are making inroads into many classrooms due to their low cost, USB power, small size, and adaptability. It is the latter feature that makes them especially attractive to science teachers.
Sharing a few online and in print resources for teachers and families
By Peggy Ashbrook
Posted on 2012-10-04
I’m sharing a few free online resources that I’ve recently come across. Share a resource that you use, by commenting, below.
The Fred Rogers Early Learning Environment has many short videos that families and early childhood educators can use to get ideas for activities that are appropriate and engaging for young children.
I especially like the activities that feature real people doing activities that relate to science learning:
Getting to Know You where Ella Jenkins teaches Mr. Rogers (and the viewers) how to play a clapping game “Head and Shoulders, baby, 1-2-3.” The “Talk About It” commentary discusses how everyone makes mistakes, encouraging children to try something new, and modeling how to handle mistakes. The “Why This Is Important” section shows:
- When adults admit to making mistakes, we teach children that it is okay to make mistakes, and how to correct them.
- Complimenting effort, instead of ability, can help children feel more confident in their abilities and persist longer when they feel challenged.
Science is all about learning something new and accepting mistakes.
Tracking Down Notes is a short video of children noticing and making sounds. The “Talk About It” commentary offers some open-ended questions to ask while exploring sound. The “Why This Is Important” section includes the relationship between learning vocabulary and hands-on experiences.
Teaching Young Children, a publication of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, has some material posted online. The June/July 2012 issue has a “Message in a Backpack: Home Sorting Ideas” page that describes sorting activities to help children notice how things are alike and different. One sort helps prepare children to assist with grocery shopping:
Sort shopping lists according to the type of item, such as fresh vegetables, frozen foods, or cleaning supplies. At the store, predict where each item will be located.
Online articles include “Planting Smart,” “Using Graphic Organizers in Preschool,” and “Creatures in the Classroom,” an article by Alyse C. Hachey and Deanna Butler from the March 2012 Young Children. You can receive the journal as part of your NAEYC membership or by subscribing.
The NAEYC website page “For Families”, describes science activities in the “Music, Math & More” section of the Learning & Development pages. Two of the science-related activities are Playdough Power and A Family Shadow Walk.
Here is a resource for the senses—from the Florida Museum of Natural History’s Marvelous Explorations Through Science and Stories: MESS®. See Experience 6 in the “My Body My Senses” Teacher’s Guide for an activity on the sense of touch, and also take a look at the extensive bibliography on pages 46-55 listing books such as See, Hear, Touch, Taste, Smell by Melvin Berger, Seven Blind Mice by Ed Young, Touch the Poem by Arnold Adoff, My Hands by Aliki, I Can Tell by Touching, by Carolyn Otto.
A fun way to use our sense of touch designed by some preschool teachers is a “Sensory Walk,” done with bare feet along a series of trays with various materials. Pans or trays of corn starch packing “peanuts”, playdough, sand, rice, cotton balls, corrugated cardboard, cold jello, tempra paint and ending with warm water…and a towel. For stability, adults can hold a child’s hand. Children can use a wet wipe to clean the feet before and after. Putting socks and shoes back on is a good exercise in fine motor use (for the children) and patience (for all).
Activities for use in school and home can be part of a broader science inquiry into a concept such as “living organisms use their senses to find out about their environment” by continuing the exploration with additional activities and through many conversations and discussions to learn what children think and why they think it.
Peggy
I’m sharing a few free online resources that I’ve recently come across. Share a resource that you use, by commenting, below.
The Fred Rogers Early Learning Environment has many short videos that families and early childhood educators can use to get ideas for activities that are appropriate and engaging for young children.
I especially like the activities that feature real people doing activities that relate to science learning:
PD as learning
By Mary Bigelow
Posted on 2012-09-30
I’m conducting a professional development (PD) workshop on instructional strategies for our elementary science department, sharing some of the great ideas I learned at a conference. The teachers all know each other, so we don’t need the usual ice-breaker. I thought about opening by asking them to describe an effective learning experience they have had and why it worked for them. I could then refer to their input during the session. Do you have an experience to share as an example?
—Joyce from Rhode Island
I’ve played various roles in professional development workshops for teachers, as an attendee, a planner, and a presenter. I think you have a good idea— an introductory activity relating to the goals of the workshop can provide a frame of reference and give you some background information on the participants. I can share a memorable PD experience I had, but it was in a non-classroom setting.
I was taking a canoeing and water safety course. We spent time on the lake and then moved on to knot tying. I remembered a few knots from my Girl Scout days, but one in particular was challenging. The instructor gave verbal directions with no diagrams or modeling. Instead, he said, over and over again, something about a rabbit coming out of a hole and hopping around a tree. This made no sense to me as I sat there holding a piece of rope. When I raised my hand to ask him to explain, he gave me a condescending look, told me to pay closer attention, and repeated the hopping rabbit story in a louder and slower voice. Still confused, I asked him if he could demonstrate the process using my rope. He did so— once—and then asked “Any questions? Good.” He moved on to the next knot without giving those of us who were finally catching on time to practice.
After the class, I fumed with frustration. I vowed to never tie another knot again, even to keep my canoe from drifting away. Then I took a deep breath and thought about the role reversal. I was the student trying to learn something new from a teacher who already knew the process. He had one way to “teach” the skill (the rabbit story) and when some students did not get it right away, he assumed it was our fault for not listening.
It occurred to me that my frustrations were probably similar to those of my students when they were learning something new. I wondered how much more frustrated I would be if he had given the instructions in a language I did not understand. I thought about how I could have made the knot tying lesson much better. I vowed to remember this experience and always have a variety of strategies up my sleeve to help students. For example, while the verbal instructions worked for some students in the knot class, others needed something more visual. I also vowed to give students time to ask questions, practice, and think about what they were learning.
Even negative experiences can have positive results!
Graphic: http://www.flickr.com/photos/whatindienights/6008244447/sizes/s/in/photostream/
I’m conducting a professional development (PD) workshop on instructional strategies for our elementary science department, sharing some of the great ideas I learned at a conference. The teachers all know each other, so we don’t need the usual ice-breaker. I thought about opening by asking them to describe an effective learning experience they have had and why it worked for them. I could then refer to their input during the session.
More Is Less
Science music videos
By Mary Bigelow
Posted on 2012-09-29
In my classroom, I liked to have music playing when the students came in. It was usually classical and the students seemed to enjoy it–one student was especially fond of Mozart. From some recent tweets, I discovered several sites with a different take on music videos—they are related to science topics.
Frank Gregorio, a science teacher from Virginia, posts videos on the Gregs Educational site. Spectacular graphics and music are part of these “trailers” that can be used as introductions to class topics (or just because they’re beautiful). They’re less than 5 minutes long and include a brief summary. Most have some text overlay but no narration. The videos can be downloaded from the site. I’m going to use a few at the beginning of some workshops I’m doing.
I’d love to know how the producer of The Symphony of Science videos does it. The narration is mixed so that it sounds like the scientists (such as Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Carl Sagan, or Stephen Hawking) are “singing.” The lyrics are provided along with the sources of the information. I can watch these over and over. I first became familiar with this project through a remix of Mr. Rogers.
Science Bulletins are documentaries from the American Museum of Natural History that feature stories, data visualizations, and news updates on discoveries and research in astrophysics, Earth science, biodiversity, and evolution. They also feature music and beautiful graphics.
Graphic: http://vimeo.com/channels/114270
In my classroom, I liked to have music playing when the students came in. It was usually classical and the students seemed to enjoy it–one student was especially fond of Mozart. From some recent tweets, I discovered several sites with a different take on music videos—they are related to science topics.
Early learning experiences build toward understanding concepts that are hard to teach
By Peggy Ashbrook
Posted on 2012-09-27
We all have seen how children begin making sense of the world before they have any formal or informal teaching about a concept or topic…discovering through exploration that the world has textures, some things are for eating and some are not, objects can be moved and some appear to move by themselves, light comes and goes. A Private Universe (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 1987) is a now classic film revealing that early ideas that are not scientifically accurate, called misconceptions or incomplete ideas, may be held onto into adulthood. Recent college graduates are asked to explain why the moon seems to change shape and position. Why should we all be able to explain this natural phenomena? Not because it affects everyone’s daily life but because we should have had experiences that would allow us to use our reasoning to figure it out.
Understanding relationships between position of objects, and light and shadow, are necessary to understand how the appearance of the Moon’s phases occurs. We often learn about the Moon’s phases through reading and observing and moving a model of the Earth and Moon in middle and high school. By then we have had many experiences with moving objects and using light to cast shadows that change as the objects move. Learning about light through many different experiences helps young children build their understanding of how it works, learning about some of the properties of light. Part of being a child’s first teacher (after the family) is being aware of how beginning ideas may become misconceptions that children must discard before they can build a more scientifically accurate understanding.
In my effort to provide experiences for children that will help them build understanding of scientific concepts, I have to remind myself of a caution expressed by educator and researcher Jeff Winokur about teaching children. He said that, “Just because they see it doesn’t mean they understand it”. He was discussing teaching the difficult-to-teach concepts of water evaporation and condensation but I am applying it more broadly.
Setting up a situation where children can see light reflected from a surface such as smooth cardboard (but not a mirror), may broaden their understanding of reflection of light. Mirrored surfaces are not the only objects that reflect light. We see by sensing light reflected from any object we are seeing.We must talk with our students, discuss all ideas and the evidence for holding these ideas. Ask children to consider alternative explanations for their observations and always encourage them to seek answers to questions. There is an on-going discussion about teaching to help students change their incomplete or inaccurate conceptions in a forum in the National Science Teachers Association’s Learning Center —look for “Avoiding Misconceptions in Science Education” thread in the “Elementary Science” forum.
In the October 2012 Science & Children I write about providing experiences where children can try using all of their senses to sense light, to help them build a beginning understanding of light and how it works. We built a “block out the light” box to view objects without light available. I think the children were disappointed not to see something amazing, but then they got it—with no light inside or coming into the box, they couldn’t see the object.Read the Editor’s Note by Linda Froschauer, Hard to Learn Hard to Teach, for planning steps to support student learning. A Formative Assessment Probe–Talking about Shadows by Page Keeley, and a Science Short–Modeling Light and Shadows by David Carrejo and Judy Reinhartz also address the hard-to-teach concept of light.
Here are a few ways to use our senses to try to sense light. Add other ideas in a comment and please let me know if any of them are likely to lead to children making misconceptions about light!
| Sense | Activity |
| See | Have children identify all the sources of light they see during a school day (light fixtures, sun, flashlights, moon and other reflected light sources). Caution! Remind children never to look directly at the sun because it will damage their eyes even though they may not feel hurt.Looking at objects through various colored films (acetate) will give the experience needed to understand that the objects only appear to be a different color, they do not actually change color. When looking though a red film at an object children may say, ‘It’s red!” By asking, “Did it change color forever?” parents and teachers can prompt thinking about the properties of light and how our eyes sense light. |
| Hear | Have children close their eyes and listen for the “sound of light”. Have them listen to all available light sources to avoid thinking that a noisy fluorescent light fixture is the “sound of light”. |
| Smell | Use a flashlight with a quiet switch. Have children close their eyes and turn their backs to you. Have them tell you when the flashlight is on by sniffing for the “smell of light”. Have children sniff all available light sources to avoid thinking that a smell in the air is the “smell of light”. |
| Taste | From a safe distance, have children capture a mouthful of light from the sun, a light fixture or a flashlight and report on the taste, if any. |
| Feel | Use a flashlight with a quiet switch. Have children close their eyes and extend a hand in front of them. Have them tell you when the flashlight is shining on their hand by feeling the light. Many light sources make heat that we can feel but, in this activity, we focus on being able to sense light, not changes in temperature, with our skin. |
We all have seen how children begin making sense of the world before they have any formal or informal teaching about a concept or topic…discovering through exploration that the world has textures, some things are for eating and some are not, objects can be moved and some appear to move by themselves, light comes and goes.
Teacher transfers
By Mary Bigelow
Posted on 2012-09-25
The budget situation in the past few years has lead to a number of teacher layoffs and reassignments. In many cases, beginning teachers bear the brunt of these. But often overlooked are the effects of these changes on the teachers who remain (and their students), as teaching positions are shuffled around to cover the furloughed positions.
I recently talked with MH, a middle school general science teacher for 25 years. Two years ago, the district instituted a hiring freeze and began furloughing and reassigning teachers. When a high school biology teacher retired, MH (who is certified in biology) was transferred to the position. She shared her experiences and offers advice for teachers and administrators in this situation.
Describe your middle school experience. I was teaching in a new building, in a lab that I helped to design and with a curriculum that I wrote in cooperation with my colleagues. The lab was well supplied and the inventories were in order. During my time there, I was also an athletic coach, academic team leader, and department chair. I earned a master’s degree and additional graduate credits. I served on the supervision/evaluation and professional development committees. I presented at workshops and attended NSTA conferences. I was satisfied with my middle school role and I think I did an excellent job.
How were you informed of your reassignment? I was told of the transfer during the week before the end of the school year. Staying at the middle school was not an option. So in addition to the end-of-year activities with my eighth–graders, I also had to clean out my personal materials and prepare the lab for my successor. With the move, I was no longer a department chair. I felt as though the rug had been pulled out from under me.
What is your course load at the high school? I now have four preps: academic biology, ESL (English as a Second Language ) biology (co-teaching with an ESL teacher), advanced biology, and a botany elective. I also have a homeroom, lunch duty, and one planning period per day. Fortunately, I teach in the same lab all day and I don’t have to share it with another teacher. The technology is adequate.
How much time did you get to prepare? The high school was closed for the summer, so I could not get into the lab until two weeks before classes started. I was surprised that the lab was in disarray and that the inventories were not up-to-date. Some of the equipment was not in working order, and I was concerned about the status of safety equipment. I did my best, but it took a while to get the lab in a condition that I was satisfied with.
How familiar were you with the curriculum? I am credentialed in biology but I had been away from it for a long time and I had never taught the subject at the high school level. The subject now has more emphasis on molecular biology, biochemistry, genetics, and genomes. The only curriculum document available to me was an applied biology curriculum, and I was told to “beef it up” for the academic class and modify it for the ESL class. I had access to the textbooks for the courses that use them. I researched other botany courses and blended them to create a curriculum for the new course, and I was compensated for this curriculum work. I did a lot of reading over the summer to catch up with the content, but I found that I actually learned content right along with the students during the year.
What were your biggest challenges? I left an environment in which we had established professional learning communities with common planning time. The high school schedule does not allow much collaboration during the school day. I do meet with the other biology teacher after school hours (we do not have any common planning time during the day). In general, the high school teachers seem to be content-focused and not as attuned to the whole child approach to education.
My lab is set up very differently. It is smaller and the students sit at the lab tables. I’ve had to adapt my instructional and classroom management strategies for this arrangement.
The middle school students were much easier to engage in the learning activities, while the high schoolers seem to focus on non-academic events, such as social activities and their jobs. But I do enjoy the level of conversations I have with the advanced biology students.
Any advice for teachers and administrators? I felt like a new teacher, starting over in an unfamiliar school teaching subjects I had never taught before. But everyone assumed that I did not need any assistance. I would suggest that
- Transferring teachers receive advance notice to vacate their classroom or lab.
- Teachers should have access to their new classrooms over the summer to prepare lessons and labs, organize materials, and inventory what is there.
- Teachers should be compensated for any curriculum updates or rewrites that they must do.
- The district safety officer should be available to assist in inventorying and any clean-up of chemicals or other materials.
My most important suggestion would be to provide a welcome and an orientation for transferring teachers. Even though I was an experienced teacher, I was unfamiliar with the school building and its culture. I had a lot of basic questions: Where is the copier? Whom do I call if there is an issue with the technology? What is the budget? What is the fire drill procedure?
It’s ironic that years ago, I requested a transfer to the high school but was refused. But change can be good. If it is something that you want to do, go for it.
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/spcummings/361167519/
The budget situation in the past few years has lead to a number of teacher layoffs and reassignments. In many cases, beginning teachers bear the brunt of these. But often overlooked are the effects of these changes on the teachers who remain (and their students), as teaching positions are shuffled around to cover the furloughed positions.
Boardworks High School Biology
By Ken Roberts
Posted on 2012-09-25
This is a complete set of interactive PowerPoint Slides for High School Biology that is geared toward specific state standards. You may select the standards from any of the 50 states. The lessons are divided into nearly 100 manageable “chunks” of from 3 to 12 slides. This way the educator can use any individual topic in the sequence that best fits their curriculum. The flexibility of being able to integrate all or some of the lessons and use them at the most appropriate time is one of the best features of this program. The way the topics are broken into small, manageable pieces is also a great feature. This would allow for remediation with students who need extra time with a topic or pre-teaching a topic for students who need additional support. The animations are well done and will keep the interest of high school students. Age-appropriate animations, which won’t remind students of kindergarten, are used throughout the program. Video sequences add depth; practice problems enhance the lessons; and important terms can be clicked on to reveal more information. Some of the slides have teacher notes already embedded with information for the instructor such as insights about diagrams and instructional suggestions. Overall this is a highly useful program for biology teachers. If I were a new teacher, I could design my entire course around these slides. As an experienced teacher, I can use these slides to add depth and breadth to my existing PowerPoint slides. This product takes the “hard part” out of lesson development and gives the teacher a complete set of ready-to-use lessons. This is a great resource that I and my students have enjoyed for the past few weeks.
JogNog Study Games
By Ken Roberts
Posted on 2012-09-25
JogNog is an educational game site which engages students in test preparation in a fun, lively way. “This is crazy….it’s really fun but you’re also learning!” exclaimed one player. Students enter an ancient city and are challenged to “build towers” by correctly answering a series of test preparation questions in a limited amount of time. The game is enhanced by cool sound effects and visuals that may appeal to fans of video games. Players are given the chance to re-take the challenge until mastery and they “complete the tower”. At that point, they may alert a parent or teacher, via email, and request a form of “compliment” in return. One suggested compliment is “a special dessert”. Questions for the quiz towers are often aligned to textbooks or standardized state tests which cover a core curriculum. For example, one tower prepares students for the eighth grade science component of the Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System. Other towers cover mathematics and language arts at levels ranging from elementary to high school. One versatile feature of JogNog is the ability for teachers to write their own towers. Questions may be written for a particular textbook or pulled from existing towers. After completing a unit of study, teachers may even challenge students to work in groups to write and edit their own tower of questions to be played by the class. Student feedback on this site has been very positive. Working at their own pace, students gain confidence as they practice answering multiple-choice questions under time constraints. The ability to access JogNog on mobile devices such as the iPhone allows students to get valuable test preparation on-the-go. This is an appealing alternative to test preparation booklets for many students. Teachers also benefit by using valuable class time to prepare the class for the hands-on or open-ended writing portion of state assessments. For teachers looking for a fun, interactive way to help students review the core curriculum, this product is an excellent choice.